Jewish Dishes: Potato latkes are highlight of Hanukkah

Dreidel Rolled Cookies made with Flour and Almond Meal can be made using your favorite rolled cookie recipe and dreidel-shaped cutter. (Photo by Ruth Taber / El Paso Times)

At sundown on Saturday, Jewish families all over the world will light the first candle on their Hanukkah menorahs. One more candle on the ceremonial candelabra will be lit each succeeding night until all eight are lit on the final evening.

The eight-day holiday commemorates a victory for religious and spiritual freedom and a 2,000-plus-year-old miracle. Victorious in their war with Syrian-Greek King Antiochus, who wanted to replace Judaism with Hellenism, the Jews returned to rededicate their Temple. The oil supply for lighting their ner tamid (eternal flame) however, was only enough for one day. The miracle: this small amount of oil burned for eight days, allowing enough time to process and sanctify new oil from the nearby olive trees.

Foods fried in oil have become a Hanukkah tradition -- in deference to the oil miracle. Many are high in fat and calories, but with a bit of prudence (small portions!), we can enjoy these decadent goodies.

High on the list are potato latkes, or pancakes. In 19th-century Europe, they were grated with onion and fried in goose fat. In the Middle Ages, however, latkes were made from buckwheat flour or curd cheeses.

As a child, I looked forward to Hanukkah and my mom's latkes, which she fried in schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) and served with applesauce and sour cream. She grated potatoes and chopped onions by hand -- always the same, every year, and we were thrilled.

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Nowadays, creative cooks create endless variations on the basic potato latke recipe by adding vegetables, (including chile and jalapeño peppers) mushrooms, tofu, assorted fruits, cheese, nuts; in short, almost anything edible that survives pan frying can be used. Condiments and sauces have gone way beyond applesauce -- how about wasabi, curry or salsa toppings? The once popular schmaltz now plays second fiddle to oil -- olive, peanut or other vegetable oils -- for frying the latkes.

Other mainstays of the Hanukkah menus include cheese and other dairy dishes, doughnuts filled with jam or fruit (called sufganyiot in Israel) and fried pastries in assorted shapes. Names vary for these fried pastries in different parts of the world: bimuelos, lokmas, in the Middle East; zangula in Morocco and Egypt; gulab jamun in India; frittelle in Italy; and blintzes in every corner of the globe. They all share the basic concept of preparing batter (and occasionally adding fillings) and frying in oil.

South of the border, Hanukkah is named Januca. Sephardic Jews in Mexico celebrate with the standard foods fried or baked in olive oil. Buñuelos, fried pastries drenched in syrup or rolled in sugar, are popular along with traditional latkes.

Hanukkah sets me on a search for new ways to use cheese. I struck gold this year with a recipe from Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs' newest cookbook, "The Food52 Cookbook Volume 2," (William Morrow, $30) The pair, believing that the best recipes come from home cooks, collected and tested recipes from readers (Hesser is a longtime food writer and editor for the New York Times) and various online food blogs and then asked online foodies to vote for their favorites each week.

A Salvadoran recipe for a cheesy breakfast muffin (known as quesadillas in El Salvador) sent me to the kitchen immediately. These quesadillas have nothing to do with tortillas! The muffins are light, not too sweet, easy to prepare and are delicious any time of the day. Although the recipe calls for a stand mixer, I used my Cuisinart food processor to cream the butter, adding the remaining ingredients to complete the batter.

Cheesy Breakfast Muffins (Salvadoran Quesadillas)

Makes 18 muffins.

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 packed cup grated hard cheese (I used Parmigiano Reggiano.)

1 cup rice flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch salt

Optional: Sesame seeds for sprinkling

Preheat oven 350 degrees F.

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time until fully blended. Add sour cream, cheese, rice flour, baking powder and salt, and process or beat everything together until batter is smooth.

Spoon into greased muffin cups almost to top. This batter does not rise much.

Optional: sprinkle a few sesame seeds over each muffin.

Bake until golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. (Less time in silicone muffin molds)

Cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes.

Adapted from "Food52 Cookbook, Volume2"

Rolled Cookies made with Flour and Almond Meal

Dreidel games are traditional at Hanukkah celebrations. There's a different Hebrew letter on each of the top's four sides and the letters form an acronym meaning "a great miracle happened here." These simple dreidel cookies can be made using your favorite rolled cookie recipe and a dreidel-shaped cutter. I mixed flour and almond meal for this nutty cookie.

Batter makes about 40-50 two-inch cookies.

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup almond meal (or 170 grams; weighing is more accurate)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Preheat oven 350 degrees F.

Lightly grease cookie sheets. Cream butter and sugar. Add and beat in egg, vanilla and lemon zest. In another bowl, stir flour, almond meal, cinnamon and cloves. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture. Dough will be quite stiff. Knead, until it holds together. Divide dough into two pieces. Wrap pieces in plastic wrap and refrigerate about one hour.

Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll out to 1/8-inch thickness on lightly floured surface. Cut dreidel (or other) shapes. The dough may fall apart when transferring to cookie sheet -- no problem, just patch or reroll, the texture or taste will not be affected. Bake cookies 8 to 10 minutes, until golden color -- slightly darker on edges. Cool on racks. These cookies get crisper after cooling.

Ruth Taber is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals. taber.ruth@gmail.com.